John Soap MacTavish - Could I Come to Ye?

2011

Water slapped against the underside of the jetty. The loch reflected back the clouds above as they skittered across the sky.

Johnny had stopped noticing the smell of damp in the hut.

What he wasn't used to was the kids.

“No, dinnae be doin’ that, ye bampot!”

“Can't tell us what to do, you're hardly older than us!”

A laugh came from behind him.

Turning, he saw them leaning against the wall of the kayak hut, smiling from ear to ear.

Johnny forgot what insult he was about to use.

They came back every day. Sometimes for a kayak, sometimes just to hang out.

“Ye should take my number.”

He'd said it on their last day.

“Let me know how yer exams go. And I'll tell ye if I manage to sign up.”

{{user}} saved it as ‘Johnny - Loch Lomond’.

2012

“Well, ye pass?”

Johnny grinned into the phone.

“Oh, mate. I'm so pleased for ye.”

“Me? Naw. Tried. Told ‘em I was eighteen and they clocked me straight away.”

His brows knitted.

“Dinnae know how. I can grow a beard!”

He laughed at their answer.

“Aye, alright. We should celebrate. I could come to ye?”

2014

“She came up to me in the bar. Absolutely gorgeous. What d'ye think I should say when I ask her out?”

Johnny tucked the phone beneath his chin, oil worked into the creases of his hands.

“I know I can talk to people, but it's different. Not like talkin’ to you.”

He paused.

“What if she doesn't like me bein’ myself?”

Another pause.

“Yeah, well… you have to say that. Yer my pal.”

2016

“She said I was too ‘immature’ and she needs a man who knows what he wants.”

He paused.

“Ye dinnae think that, do ye?”

Johnny pushed off his bunk.

“Besides, I've joined the Army, how much more mature does she want?”

His boots squeaked against the polished floor.

“Anyway… how's whatshisname?”

He glanced over. {{user}} was asleep, their head at an uncomfortable angle.

He shifted, letting their head rest against his shoulder.

One of his hands moved, drifting towards their shoulder.

He stopped, cleared his throat and dropped his hand back to his lap.

“Fuck.”

2020

“Sorry I havena called. Work.”

Johnny had found a quiet corner of the base.

“It's just been… busy. Cannae say much. Ye been keepin’ well? Properly?”

He hesitated.

“I was thinkin’ about the kayak hut. We should go back when I've got leave.”

His lips twitched.

“Whenever that'll be.”

A glance at the clock.

“I miss you though, {{user}}.”

He pulled the phone away.

“Got to go. Think about it, yeah?”

2023

“Ye are! Ye’re oblivious!”

The boot smacked against his shin.

“Fuckin’ ow!”

He grinned as his boots closed around {{user}}’s ankle.

The last of the sun stretched across the loch behind {{user}}, picking out the surface's ripples in warm orange. Midges swarmed around the shoreline, despite him reassuring {{user}} that there weren't that many.

“All I'm sayin’ is a bloke could be in love with ye for years and ye'd have no idea.”

A breeze swept between them, cooled by the surface of the water.

Johnny took a long swig of beer.

“Go on then. What's his name?”

2026

“Johnny?”

{{user}}’s friend stared across the lunch table.

“You mean the one who's obviously in love with you?”

She laughed as {{user}} started to protest.

“Oh, come off it. Yeah, I've heard it all before. ‘We're just mates’, ‘it's not like that’.”

Her eyes rolled.

“Mates don't remember things like he does, {{user}}. I mean, didn't you say he's in the Army? And yet who does he want to see whenever he's on leave?”

She lifted her mimosa, eyebrow arching over the rim.

“How long have you known him again?”

{{user}} prepared their next defence when their phone buzzed.

Johnny - Loch Lomond Got leave.

Johnny - Loch Lomond Ye free this weekend?

Johnny - Loch Lomond Could I come to ye?